Thursday, October 31, 2013

Hello my Darlings! Smooooches and great big hugs of hello from Chef Tess! It is Halloween and I'm here to share something spoooooky delicious. I mean it is Scary good. The first time someone gave me a whoopie pie I thought I had died and gone to heaven. If you've never had one, they are basically a cross between a cookie and a cake joined together in happiness with a luscious layer of delightfully creamy filling. They're all the guilty pleasure of eating cake, without having to use a lame, very over-rated eating utensil, like a fork.
Traditionally these cakes are made with a fluffy chocolate cake-cookie and filled with a rich whipped-cream frosting, but during the Fall, I love the combination of pumpkin and chocolate. In fact, for years, we'd make some pretty *evil* pumpkin-chocolate cookies for Halloween.

At the advent of this year I committed to myself that I'd treat this body like I really planned on keeping it around. I wanted to eat better, not because someone forced me to eat my veggies, but because I loved myself enough to take care of myself. Enters, of course, the dilemma of having a healthy snack that is still amazing to take the place of the pumpkin chocolate cookies I've loved for years. When I first started using Honeyville Blanched Almond Flour in my baking, I didn't realize how remarkable a change it would have in my life! I started coming up with recipes like the Almond Flour Chocolate Raspberry Nutribars to satisfy my cravings.

Since January, I've lost just over 45 lbs baking with this amazing flour, exercising, and watching my calories. Almond flour has a great protein content and is outstanding for being able to have an occasional treat, without feeling like I'm missing too much! It is excellent for all my favorite baking applications! For more information, seeMy Top Favorite Tips, Tricks and Recipes for Baking with Almond Flour.

We've had some really cool pie-pumpkins popping up at the markets here, so I used those for today's cookies. They fit perfectly in my Fagor Electric Multi-Cooker. Add 1 cup of water to the cooker.Cut the pumpkin in half and remove seeds. Place in pressure cooker and cook on high pressure for 15 minutes, natural release.

Remove the pulp of the pumpkin and mash well. By the way, if you don't have fresh pumpkin, you can always use canned pumpkin puree instead of the fresh.

Stir in the pumpkin and honey and stir until smooth. Add chocolate chips (optional).

With the fresh pumpkin you may see some of the texture of the pumpkin, but it gives the cookies a really light flavor.

Scoop by rounded Tablespoon into 24 round balls onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Leave one inch between each ball. Lightly flatten the balls of dough with a moistened finger to 1/2 inch thickness. Bake in middle of the oven for 20-22 minutes. Cookies will be cake-like. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.While cookie are cooling, prepare the goo-a-licious chocolate buttercream...

Back to the egg question. If the conversion is 2 Tablespoons crystals to one egg: 1/4 cup is 4 Tablespoons, so the substitution would be 2 eggs, right?, not 6? Do you have to compensate for the extra moisture?